The British Heart Foundation is the nation’s heart charity. Every year we save thousands of lives through our pioneering research, by providing vital information that helps people reduce their own heart health risk and by supporting and caring for heart patients.

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2009-10 alone:

• BHF Heart Nurses helped and supported over 111,600 heart patients
• Our Heart HelpLine received over 46,000 enquiries
• We sent out almost 7.5 million BHF publications to help people look after their own hearts and help heart patients understand and cope with their illness
• We awarded 171 new medical research grants

Some of the most ground-breaking, innovative and important achievements in heart health research over the past 50 years have been made thanks to work supported by the British Heart Foundation. Currently, we fund 27 BHF Professors and over 1,000 research projects.

We need to spend money to make money, and more donations allow us to do more work. Our fundraising and publicity teams are made up of experienced and dedicated professionals who ensure that every penny is invested responsibly and effectively.

• We know that for every £1 the BHF spent on generating income (excluding retail) in 2009-10 we raised another £4.30 to spend on beating heart disease and saving lives. 
• In addition, an enormous amount of our fundraising is done by unpaid supporters, from the 5,000 community volunteers who helped to raise over £5 million to the 20,000 volunteer shop workers who helped us make over £22 million profit last year.

We constantly strive to keep our costs as low as possible in all sorts of ways, from using email rather than the postal service to asking for a donation to help with the costs of the free information we provide.

To give you an idea of the ratio of our spending:

• 78p out of every £1 the BHF receives (excluding retail) is available to spend on pioneering research, vital education and information and care for heart patients.
• Just 1p is spent on governance (which are costs relating to the general running of the charity).
• The remaining 21p is used to fund activities that generate further income.

It’s easy to find out if we’re giving value for the money you donate. For a free copy of our Annual Report and Accounts just call 0844 847 2787 or look on our website.

As a charity we’re subject to a number of different regulators. We’re legally obliged to be registered with the Charity Commission, who regulate all charities in England and Wales and audit us annually. We’re also registered in Scotland with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. We work to the highest standards of financial accountability and transparency.

We’re also regulated by many other organisations, from the Inland Revenue to Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Agency. On top of this is the self-regulation we practise through the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB). The BHF is signed up to the FRSB's Fundraising Promise and the Institute of Fundraising Codes of Fundraising Practice. We are also a member of the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA) for our face-to-face fundraising.

We hope that you are reassured about how your donations are spent.  If you would like more details, why not get a free copy of our Annual Report and Accounts by calling 0844 847 2787, or look on our website.

It’s true that there are a lot of charities, but every charity’s work is important and we do work together - when it makes sense to. For example, the BHF has joined forces with Action on Smoking and Health and Cancer Research UK as part of the Smokefree Action Coalition. We campaigned for a ban on cigarette vending machines and the advertising of tobacco products at the point of sale.  These were successfully passed as laws in the 2009 Health Act. 

Another example of our collaborations with other charities is our work with Marie Curie Cancer Care.  BHF Heart Failure Nurses joined forces with Marie Curie Cancer Care Nurses to improve the quality of life for patients who need palliative or end-of-life care, such as patients with advanced heart failure. The innovative Better Together pilot project was launched in September 2006 and an independent evaluation of the Better Together initiative published this year unequivocally demonstrated the benefit to patients of access to specialist cardiac palliative care nurses. Consequently, we have now entered into partnership with Marie Curie to build a centre in the West of Scotland in which new models of palliative care for heart patients will be piloted, evaluated and developed alongside those for patients with other terminal illnesses.

As a charity we rely on your donations of time and money to continue our vital work and save more lives. We know that with your support, we can realise our vision of beating heart disease. Although we are a large organisation, every donation, no matter how small, brings us closer to our goal. We ensure that every penny you give us is used in the most effective way.

Some examples of how your donations could help:

• £4 could cover the cost of 10 of our Heart Information booklets.  These booklets help patients, their family and friends, to better understand their illness and how to deal with it on a day to day basis
• £24 could fund a BHF Heart Nurse for one hour. In that time she can check a patient's medication and monitor their progress, making sure everything is as it should be
• £30 could fund a Heartstart UK training pack - essential for schools to teach their pupils vital life saving skills
• £200 could pay for a BHF-funded scientist’s life-saving research for a whole day

If you wish to help us with a donation, please donate online or call the Donation Hotline on 0300 330 3322. And if you’d like to get involved as a volunteer in your local area, please sign up or call 0845 130 8663.